The 2026 NHL Draft takes place tomorrow night at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, and the St Louis Blues have packed the 1st round board with 4 separate selections to be made. 2 of those 4 selections come from trades from the likes of the Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals, the latter as part of a previous trade deal that sent Jordan Kyrou to DC in exchange for Connor McMichael and that draft capital. Now, the Blues possess the 11th, 15th, 16th, and 29th picks in the first round tomorrow, with their final first round choice earned via a deal with Colorado and the New York Islander,s which sent now former Blues captain Brayden Schenn to Long Island. Now the question is, who do the Blues cash in on with a flurry of first-rounders with so much talent now clearly available?
Ivar Stenberg, Frolunda HC (Swedish Hockey League)
One of the best European skaters available in this year's draft, Stenberg has been high on several mock draft boards with just about every team it seems, and for good reason. The 18-year-old Frolunda star from Stenungsund, Sweden, is pretty much in the top 3 on every single prospect rankings list, given his numerous international medals, including gold at the World Juniors and silver at the U18 Worlds for his native Sweden. Stenberg hasn't had quite the same goalscoring prowess with Frolunda's senior team as he did with their U20 squad, scoring 11 goals and 23 assists for 33 points, but he did still manage 4 assists in 6 playoff games. His U20 stats were even more impressive, notching 26 goals and 27 assists for 53 points in 27 games. In Stenberg's first season with the Frolunda senior team, he posted far fewer games with 25 played and just a goal and 2 assists while adding 3 goals and 3 assists for 6 points in 12 playoff games. Clearly, this past season was a vast improvement.
Alexander Command, Orebro HK (Swedish Hockey League)
A fellow Swede with some top 15-20 prospect board rankings, the 18 year old from Danderyd, Sweden, could be the first of the Blues' two mid 1st round choices, bringing some much-needed potential long-term depth to the centre position, something the Blues could use a refresher on. Command is a playmaking two-way center who spent most of his time before this year's draft with Orebro's junior team, much like Stenberg, notching 17 goals and 27 assists for 44 points in 30 games, pairing that with 5 goals and 8 assists for 13 points in 14 games- quite an accomplishment. He's only played a handful of games for Orebro's senior team and hasn't found the net yet. However, Command is still an intriguing mid-round choice for a team that needs depth at arguably the most important position in hockey other than the goaltender. Speaking of that, since the Blues will be going back-to-back here...
Ryan Lin, Vancouver Giants/University of Denver (Western Hockey League/NCAA)
The 10 time national champs of college hockey are a perennial NHL factory, and the 18-year-old Richmond, British Columbia native defenseman is their latest product. Like Command, Lin is a top 20 ranked skate,r albeit with slightly fewer sheer honors, but the honors he does have consist of two golds from the U18 Worlds and U17 Challenge. Honestly, two gold medals in international competition and a commitment to the defending college hockey champs make you wonder why Lin isn't at least a top 10 prospect. And we haven't even gotten to his goalscoring prowess yet. Lin last played for the WHL's Vancouver Giants and was pretty solid, notching 14 goals and 43 assists for 57 points in 53 games, although the Giants missed the postseason. It was a considerable improvement from his 5 goals and 48 assists, 53-point season prior, adding 5 playoff games with a pair of helpers there.
Liam Ruck, Medicine Hat Tigers (Western Hockey League)
Towards the end of the 1st round might be the best opportunity to snag one of hockey's newest twins, with Liam and Markus Ruck, both from the WHL's Medicine Hat Tigers on the board for night 1 of the draft. The Blues should settle for Liam here, given his higher prospect ranking with of course no disrespect to his brother, myself being a twin also. But Liam is a goalscoring machine, logging 45 goals and 59 assists for 104 points in 68 games last season, an enormously dominant campaign and a little more than double his previous tally of 25-16-41 in 61 games in 2024/25. 2025/26 saw Liam add 8 more goals and 4 more assists for 12 points in 14 postseason games, and he had a similar mark in the 2025 postseason with 6 goals and 4 assists for 10 points in 18 games. Liam is currently committed to the University of North Dakota, another collegiate hockey powerhouse and perennial NHL factory that's in the same conference, the NCHC, as Lin's University of Denver.
Other strong candidates for any of the Blues' 4 first round picks include a top-10-ranked center in Viggo Bjorck, from Swedish powerhouse Djurgardens. The Stockholm native scored 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points even while Djurgardens was relegated to the 2nd tier of Swedish hockey (yes, they do that there, like international soccer. It's very interesting). If the Blues were to look for another goaltender, potentially a long-term option like they would with Command, the best option there could be Tobias Trejbal, an 18-year-old Czech from Most, who's one of the top netminders in this year's class in more ways than one. The UMass commit stands a towering 6'4 and had a 2.12 goals against average with a .912 save percentage for the USHL's Youngstown Phantoms. The other big option is Stepan Shurygin, an 18-year-old Russian from Samara of similar stature. He stands 6'3 and posted a 3.79 GAA and .888 SVG with the Ontario Hockey League's Saginaw Spirit in 2025/26.
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